Kouchner's Departure

AIM Pristina, December 17, 2000

In spring 1990, the French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner said "that several thousand Albanian pupils have been poisoned in Kosovo". The Kosovars, at that time oppressed by the Belgrade regime, stated that "this unknown doctor is a true friend". As years passed his name was forgotten. It was only mentioned in Albanian-Serbian "debates" whether 7,000 pupils were truly poisoned or just pretended to be poisoned.

Nine years later, the French doctor Bernard Kouchner came to Kosovo just after NATO troops and undertook what many of his friends considered "mission impossible", i.e. running of the UN civil administration in Kosovo. As soon as he touched the Kosovo soil he stated that UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which envisages a substantial autonomy for Kosovo, i.e. a high degree of self-government, was "his Bible". A humanist, incurable enthusiast by character and on many occasions too honest, Bernard Kouchner soon became at the same time the most criticised and the best loved man in Kosovo.

Faced with the challenge of reconstructing a country devastated by the war, burdened by deep ethnic and political hostilities, he started resolving things summarily, which was why some Albanian representatives accused him of "pretending to be a king". On the other hand, the Serbian representatives accused him of "political partiality towards the Albanians". And he laughed to both sides. Belgrade, which was at that time still controlled by Slobodan Milosevic, accused him of war crimes. The Kosovo Serbs were divided. The Serbian leaders from Gracanica found common language with Kouchner, while those who "ruled" over the northern part of Mitrovica kept splitting hairs. The former realised that they needed protection and other assistance they could not expect from Belgrade, while the latter - in the north of Kosovo, did not want anything from the international community and firmly turned towards Belgrade and its rulers Slobodan Milosevic.

On the other hand, there were many in Pristina reminding the public that "Kouchner was just a Frenchman and that it was common knowledge that the French were traditional Serbian allies". He once again laughed bitterly, engrossed in his "impossible" mission. After several months of hard work he promulgated a set of laws thus re-establishing law and order in Kosovo and launched a long and hard process of creating administrative structures. He established the Transitional Council of Kosovo, which he unofficially called a mini Parliament, in which he brought together the Albanian political frontmen, and later the Serbian ones. At the same time, in cooperation with peace forces, he ended the process of demilitarising and transforming KLA and creating the Protection Troops of Kosovo. The hardest task was creating the Provisional Administrative Council, which was to serve as a kind of Kosovo Government.

After the composition of this Council was made known, answering to criticism because of his delayed decisions he said: "God, I needed three months of negotiations just to bring together all Albanian leaders at the same table". Kouchner left no stone unturned in his endeavours to lay the foundations for the ethnic reconciliation in Kosovo and succeeded in making Serbian representatives join the joint administrative structures. Nevertheless, he publicly admitted that the "reconciliation will be a long process and it will take many generations to achieve. After 40 years of communist rule, 10 years of apartheid and especially after the sufferings during the last war, inter-ethnic reconciliation will have to wait", said Kouchner. He never asked the Albanians to forget, but to forgive. He constantly insisted on tolerance and was angry whenever an inter-ethnic murder happened. He used every opportunity to warn the citizens that they should not try the culprits, but that it was up to courts to establish any man's guilt.

As time passed, there were many occasions on which Kouchner felt betrayed by those who had appointed him and encouraged him by promising "assistance by every possible means". Realising that Kosovo was slowly being taken off the agenda, Kouchner resolutely kept reminding European statesmen of their promises. "It is easy to criticise from afar, but to reconstruct Kosovo from zero is a tremendous job", said Kouchner when he found thousands of workers without wages, over 100 thousand pensioners without pensions, over 2 million inhabitants without electricity, water and heating. Nevertheless, he knocked on every door from Brussels to Tokyo in order to create a basis for the implementation of his mission.

As time went by, Kouchner became the most dedicated man in Kosovo. He could be seen everywhere. In factories, schools, at protest rallies, at places where events or incidents happened, at a lunch or dinner in the Orthodox lodgings in Gracanica, or in Drenica which is the symbol of the start of the Albanian armed resistance.

Always energetic, slightly theatrical, he did not care much for his gaffes in which he slightly exaggerated and mentioned millions and did not even shrink from being very direct with statesmen who visited Kosovo and patted him on the back leaving him empty handed. He did not avoid political conflicts with his country's representatives who accused him of his "one-sided stands". But, surely, the crown of his success were Kosovo local elections held on October 28. The pre-election campaign followed his meetings with citizens of Kosovo whom he did not hesitate to address in the Albanian or Serbian language. The mistakes he made in those speeches raised a roar of laughter, but at the same time aroused sympathies of the gathered people and never threw a dark cloud over his personality. Quite the contrary, he had grown friendly with his "nationals". The local elections rounded off the hardest stage of Mr.Kouchner's mission who, after they were concluded, said that Kosovo was joining the family of democratic countries. However, he left behind him many grievous events too.

The northern town of Mitrovica remains divided, and ethnical and political violence continues. The Albanians blame him for allowing the holding of Yugoslav elections in September and are feverishly waiting for the decision on the Serbian elections.

Kouchner's 18 months long journey in Kosovo is filled with challenges, obstacles, and even imputations, both here as well as in the international decision-making centres, which he nevertheless managed to overcome.

For some time there were rumours about his resignation, or better said replacement. All became clear when some ten days ago UN Secretary General Koffi Anan appointed his successor which was commented by some circles that he "wanted to remind the Kosovars how lucky they were with Kouchner". Those who know him say that he is an outstanding personality not only as a humanist, but also as a scholar who had the understanding for the process of decolonisation and whose stand on Kosovo was influenced by the right to self-determination. Although his "Bible", i.e. UN Security Council Resolution 1244 recognises the sovereignty of Yugoslavia over Kosovo, the Administrator Kouchner considered the processes which were unfolding in Kosovo as decolonisation.

Among other things, he brought the decision on the change of currency and the establishment of an independent banking authority, drafting of local laws, development of administrative structures, as well as the police and the judiciary. Practically at the end of his mandate, which expires in mid January 2001, Kouchner gave Kosovo back its Supreme Court, one of state attributes which Kosovo once had and which was the first institution to be dissolved after Belgrade deprived Kosovo of its autonomy.

In Kosovo, Kouchner simply created his own model of international protectorate unknown in the world till now. It seems that the news on Kouchner's departure has created a void in Kosovo. One after another, all Albanian political parties recognised his "exceptional merits" and all achievements in Kosovo attributed to his endeavours. According to them, Kouchner laid the foundations of the new Kosovo society and, at the same time, tried to be the voice of the people of Kosovo. Even the political factors admitted that they would like Kouchner to stay in Kosovo, at least until the general elections are over.

For the first time and without any reservations, they expressed their gratitude for his exceptional work. There were those who said that they intended to confront him and criticise his stands regarding certain issues on many occasions, but were disarmed by his attitude of "a politician and humanist par excellence". Now when his mission is ending, the Albanians are busy discussing whether to proclaim him an honorary citizen of Kosovo, while there are numerous opinions that "Kouchner is a man to whom Kosovo is greatly indebted".

It seems that the warmth and closeness with which people speak about r.Kouchner vanishes before the coldness created by the very mention of the name of his replacement. It seems that the appointment of the Danish Defence Minister was received with much reservations as if he had brought with him the Scandinavian winter. The period of Kouchner's departure and the arrival of the new administrator is considered here as very delicate one. The Kosovars know very well that Hans Hakkerup was "ardent supporter of NATO's air raids against Serbia". Independent analysts think that despite his military experience he will be limited by the burden of all international official documents and will lack Kouchner's "feeling" for going beyond the limits set by Resolution 1244 for the sake of speeding up the political process. The new administrator will find Kosovo in a much better situation than his predecessor, but he will also inherit many unresolved and serious problems, above all the issue of Kosovo's political status.

On the other hand, the Serbs in Serbia are happy that Kouchner is leaving. Some Kosovo Serbs are also happy. They think that Kouchner and his administration have not done enough for their security and refuse to admit that he often used his personal authority in order to make their life in the so called enclaves, easier. Whether intentionally or not, they forget that he was one of those who thought that the Kosovo Serbs should return to Kosovo and entrusted a special group with that task. It slipped their minds that he always did everything possible to meet their demands, even when that drew fire of the other side. He did it more or less successfully, but from his heart and not with the aim of scoring political points. By boycotting him, the Serbs in the north of Kosovo tried to demonstrate to their compatriots in Serbia, dissatisfied with the present status of Kosovo, that the only concern of the international community were the Albanians, which was not true. That is why they have turned to the new administrator Hakkerup with joy, grabbing at "straws" and remembering that during his tour of the Danish troops in northern Kosovo when he did not meet with the Albanians(!).

What is, admittedly, hard to predict now is whether after Kouchner a new "Kouchner" will appear and win the same sympathies, both of the Albanian, as well as of part of Serbian population, among journalists and his associates alike.

AIM Pristina

Arbnora Berisha